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Are these Klipsch Heresy worth picking up?


paulgyro

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23 minutes ago, paulgyro said:

 

Well lower and louder doesn't matter to me.  I'm more wondering about the aspect of their sound quality.

the Heritage models are more efficient and as such more dynamic to listen to. This is something that you need to experience to understand and numbers will not help you, I can tell you that efficiency and dynamics are what make people accept the size of horn loaded loudspeakers it is a very addictive thing. That is why with horns larger is better.

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5 hours ago, paulgyro said:

 

Well lower and louder doesn't matter to me.  I'm more wondering about the aspect of their sound quality.

Yeah; I thought about this today at work, when I should be working!

 

The Heresy will voice differently because of the 3-way design, particularly the horn midrange. With the horn midrange AND horn tweeter, which are also part of the Heritage family, the sound will be closer to that "original" sound as Paul Klipsch intended. Also, the Heresy is a sealed speaker vs. the RP series ported design. The bass will be tighter in it's response.

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On 11/18/2020 at 10:01 PM, Seadog said:

To me they seem a little rough cosmetically for that price.  I'm sure they sound great.

I would suspect an overexposure which is typical of TTL flash of a camera that tries to turn black into middle gray. I'd bet they look better in person.

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13 hours ago, Peter P. said:

Yes; there is the allure of owning a "piece of history". That's what attracted me to Heresy's. They are truly a classic.

 

But I don't think they match the Reference Premier line only in that they don't play as low. Even the lowest price RP-5000F plays louder and lower than vintage Heresy's, and they cost marginally more per pair than those used Heresy's.  But the RF series are larger than the Heresy's so you'll have to weigh the aesthetic impact on your room.

You need to do a Super Heresy Mod. like Fido had done. Easier to do if you don't change the Crossover, then the speaker kicks a$$ of the others mentioned here.

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I dont agree that they are 

"Easy to sand back to raw birch"

 The only saving grace it restoring back to birch would be if they did a crappy job.  Even then, its no "easy sanding" on that front edge or any other deeper poor if you value the thickness of the birch layer.  So, i chemical strip first. 

 

 I also could care less who is the orig owner or not. Its stated so much, as though it matters.  Some owners treat gear like crap. 

 

 For me, the price would be to high unless i wanted black, and felt like repainting. Which, if i needed a pair...may happen.

 Cant think of too many speakers i would rather have at 550.00 price point. But, they are not for everyone, and not for everyone's chosen source material.

 

 

My 2 cents.

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I'll give you a little insight from my personal experience.  In the about 20 years that I've owned Klipsch speakers these are the following ones I've had either as front mains in a HT setup or in a 2 channel setup (approximately in this exact order):

 

RF-25

forte II

RF-7 I

Chorus I

KG 4

Heresy II

Heresy III

Heresy I

 

There have been various reasons why I switched speakers but mainly it was because I found a great deal on a pair, did a side-by-side comparison and chose the one that sounded the best in my room, to my ears and with the other gear I was using at the time. 

I absolutely love my 1981 Heresys.  The sound they produce is many times more than their size may suggest.  They're not small speakers compared to some models but they're pretty incredible at what they do. 

I'm listening to a brand new Chicago vinyl that I just got on them right now, subs off.  They produce wonderful music.  For a modest two channel setup they're pretty hard to beat. 

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16 hours ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

You need to do a Super Heresy Mod. like Fido had done. Easier to do if you don't change the Crossover, then the speaker kicks a$$ of the others mentioned here.

Oh yah? I'll have to look into this. Klipsch says they have a Heresy 3 upgrade kit for these available fyi.

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15 hours ago, wuzzzer said:

I'll give you a little insight from my personal experience.  In the about 20 years that I've owned Klipsch speakers these are the following ones I've had either as front mains in a HT setup or in a 2 channel setup (approximately in this exact order):

 

RF-25

forte II

RF-7 I

Chorus I

KG 4

Heresy II

Heresy III

Heresy I

 

There have been various reasons why I switched speakers but mainly it was because I found a great deal on a pair, did a side-by-side comparison and chose the one that sounded the best in my room, to my ears and with the other gear I was using at the time. 

I absolutely love my 1981 Heresys.  The sound they produce is many times more than their size may suggest.  They're not small speakers compared to some models but they're pretty incredible at what they do. 

I'm listening to a brand new Chicago vinyl that I just got on them right now, subs off.  They produce wonderful music.  For a modest two channel setup they're pretty hard to beat. 

Wow that's quite a list!  So many questions I could ask but I'll try to focus. 

 

I hear the RF-7 I is often considered harsh in the highs. How does the Heresy I compare?  In my mind I'm toying with 1) used Heresy 2) waiting to find a used RF-7 set (would prefer II or III) 3) Refurbished RP-8000F that Woot has for $399 each. 

 

I'd love the idea of Fortes but I think they are too much for my blood. 

 

Fyi I own a pair of RP-160M so that's my reference. Also I've spent a good amount of time with the RP-8000F. 

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I was using a midrange Sony receiver at the time I had my RF-7s.  They had great bass but as you said, they were very harsh at higher volumes.  From what I've read the II and III don't have that issue. 

I currently have a top of the line Sony ES receiver from 2004 that sounds fantastic with my Heresys.  Absolutely no harshness at any volume.

The midrange clarity and smooth mid bass in the Heresy is what did it for me.

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